“She went to the FBI. You better believe I punished her for that.” He lowered his head a fraction, his eyes leveling with mine. “The only reason that you got any time with that kid is because Tilly was babysitting it. Otherwise… who knows where he’d be. And now that you’ve decided to be difficult, I’m going to make sure he lands in a fun place.”
I looked into Colter eyes. “He’s just a baby. Sweet and innocent.”
The only other time I’d seen a soul this dark was Jason’s father. A tremor ran through me. “And worth a ton of cash. Which is what I want.”
He glanced behind him and that’s when I noticed the creeps flanking him. They looked as malicious as him.
My first instinct was to return to the ball I’d been in, but the sheer fury that I felt prevented me from doing it. “I’m not signing my son over to you. Ever. And the first opportunity I have to kill you, I won’t hesitate.”
I was so furious. So filled with contempt. In that moment, I could have killed him with my bare hands.
Colter slammed his hand into the wire mesh. I guess he thought he’d scare me, but I was in the moment. The same woman who’d thrown herself across Jason’s body was facing down her sister’s killer. I wasn’t flinching.
And I was dead serious.
Picturing my child, alone, terrified, and in the hands of people I didn’t know who likely planned to hurt me… It’d turned me homicidal. If given even the slightest chance, this man would die. Hopefully, screaming in agony.
Footsteps sounded on the steps. Three guys of varying age. The youngest sniffed. “Ranger’s at the bar asking for Kane. What do you want me to tell them?”
“Bring him here. We’ve got a lesson or two to teach.”
“Got it.” The youngest dashed up the steps, but the other two stayed.
Colter took that moment to casually make his way over to Kane. His fingers pressed against Kane’s throat. “Still hanging on, huh?”
Relief washed over me, but I didn’t let it show on my face. I didn’t want Colter to hurt him anymore.
More footsteps sounded on the stairs. “Colter, we can’t get Pinch on the radio.” He paused and even from where I stood, I could feel the fear. This guy didn’t want to tell Colter that anything was wrong. “Or Eddy.”
He slammed his fist into Kane’s gut and stormed to the steps. “When I come back, I’m going to personally show you how Maya died…”
At that, I shrank back. The thought of being tortured to death made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Colter strode to the steps, taking them two at a time until he was gone.
Short, muffled pops began going off upstairs. Yelling. Footsteps running all around. It sounded like chaos. The lights in the basement flickered and then went out completely. A second later, emergency lights illuminated the area in a dull, yellow light.
The cage rattled as the building shook. I rushed around looking for something that I might use to pry the door open. I didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t want to stick around to find out.
I was still on the hunt when I began to hear Colter’s voice again. It grew louder and he hit the bottom steps with a thud. Our eyes met and he rushed across the distance, unlocking the cage. I scrambled away from him, pressing myself against the back wall, but he lunged forward and grabbed me by the hair, dragging me against him as he shoved the gun under my chin.
“If you try anything, I’ll pull the trigger.” His breath was hot against my ear.
Cliché. I dug my claws into his arm trying to give my airway some room. When that didn’t make him loosen his hold, I sank my teeth into his forearm.
That got me a howl and a grunt. In retaliation, he smacked me in the back of the head with his palm. “Try that again, and I’ll make sure you scream louder than Maya.”
“As if you weren’t going to anyway.”
All I got as a response was a laugh.
The next voice I heard, nearly made me cry.
“You should let her go.” Jason stopped on the third step up, gun in hand and pointed in my direction. His gaze landed on me. “Now.”
“Nah, I don’t think so.” His arm tightened against my neck.
Jason continued down the steps and stopped when he reached the bottom.
